I think too much about a certain absurdity called Final Fantasy XII.

Here goes nothing people:

I'VE FINISHED MY GOAL!!! AFTER SOME 110 HOURS OF PLAYING FINAL FANTASY XII PLUS LOSING SOME RM20++ ON DEFECTIVE DISCS THAT GETS ME STUCK AT THE PHON COAST....

I'VE FINISHED OFF VAYNE SOLIDOR AND WATCHED THE ENDING!!!

AND AFTER KILLING VAYNE I WAS SURPRISED AT HOW I GAMED OVER SO EASILY THE FIRST TIME.... BECAUSE VAYNE WAS SUCH A SMALL FRY. BWAHAHAHAHAHA. I CAN TALK BIG NOW~!

The Undying that took my life the first time.
Small fry compared to Yiazmat/ Omega/ Ultima/ Nabudis bosses/ Zodiark!!

Not forgetting that I practically cried my head off at the ending scene where I THOUGHT *spoiler* Balthier was going to die.

Oh well~ I told you I only waste my tears on non-existent characters XD

I won't be able to touch FF12 til after STPM already, so, I've gotta wave my goodbyes to the PS2 from today onwards.

You don't think I'm done with the game, are you? :) I'm far from over~! That's the true spirit of a gamer!! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I'm gonna obatin every esper, finish every hunt, and kill every single rare creature!! I'm gonna get ultimate weapons, playthrough ONE MORE TIME and then be truly done with the game.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA

And so here goes my ramblings over the beautiful story of Ivalice in which I fell in love with over and over again. Spoilers up!

SPOILERS START HERE.

The beautiful lands of Ivalice is a place where magick is common, and where airships rule the skies above. Transportation in the form of airships were common, and these airships were powered by none other than magicite. Magicite is manufactured from Mist, in which the vast lands of the Rozarrian empire is rich in.

The story revolves around the kingdom of Dalmasca, which is set in between the two empires, the Rozarrian Empire and the Archadian Empire that were constantly in war which each other. Already two years before the events at Final Fantasy 12, many small kingdoms have been subjugated by Archadia - kingdoms such as Nabudis.

Two years ago, in the capital city of Dalmasca, Rabanastre, the commonfolk celebrated the union of Princess Ashe of Dalmasca with Prince Rasler of Nabradia. However, the happiness of this union was shortlived, as Prince Rasler was sent out to the battlefront for Nabradia when his kingdom was attacked by the Archadian Empire. Prince Rasler was lost in this battle. Shortly, news was that the King of Dalmasca was assasinated by a traitor, the Dalmascan captain, Basch. Reks, an amateur knight, witnessed this assasination, however, he did not live long as he succumbed to his own injuries. It was announced that Basch had been executed; and that Princess Ashe took her own life after her many miseries.

Two years later, the story begins anew around a streetboy named Vaan, who is in actuality, the younger brother to Reks. Vaan lives off the streets of Rabanastre and is constantly watched over by his supportive friend, Penelo. On the day when Vayne from the House of Solidor (Archadia) was to be inaugurated as the consul in Rabanastre, Vaan decides to infiltrate the Royal Palace of Rabanastre. He is joined by Penelo. When travelling the Waterways to infiltrate the Palace, Vaan meets Balthier, a sky-pirate; and his travelling companion, a viera named Fran. They were after a magicite that Vaan supposedly took.

As they were escaping from the Waterways, their escape attempt was interrupted by a battle broken out between the Resistance and the Imperial troops. It was here that they met Asmalia, the head of the Resistance; who later turns out to be the fabled Princess Ashe of Dalmasca. Vaan and the group (but not Ashe) were then thrown into the Nalbina Dungeons in which they encountered Basch, the traitor who was supposedly executed! Basch reasons that the true assasin was not not him, but instead, his twin brother, Gabranth. Albeit hesitant to Basch's side of the story, they fled to Bhujerba from Nalbina. It was there and then that they met Lamont; whose true name is actually Lord Larsa, from the House of Solidor, the younger brother of Vayne Solidor.

The Marquis of Bhujerba detained the party and put them onboard the Leviathan, an Archadian airship, which was headed by Judge Ghis. Here, they were reunited with Ashe. Vaan's magicite was then confiscated by Ghis and sent to The Empire, for the magicite was proof of Ashe's royal lineage. The party defeated Ghis and returned to Bhujerba, however, now lacking the magicite, Ashe is unable to prove her own royal lineage. Ashe decides to travel the world and collects the treasures of Dynast-King Raithwall. The party agrees to support her and they acquired the Dawn Shard which is a piece of Nethicite from Raithwall's tomb. Ghis confiscates the Nethicite once again; and eager to see the powers the little shard contains, he experimented with it onboard the Leviathan. The shard destroyed the Leviathan and his fleet. Talk about curiosity kills the cat...?

Larsa later meets up with the party, suggesting that he wants to sign a peace treaty between the Dalmasca and the Empire. But before that, Ashe has to gain proof as Queen.

Ashe heads on to Mt. Bur-Omnisace to seek approval from the Gran Kiltias. Larsa contacts the Al-Cid, the member of the Rozarrian Empire's ruling family to avert the war between the empires. Larsa has been suspicious with his brother's involvement with magicite. The initial plan to announce Ashe's status as the rightful Queen of Dalmasca was thwarted when the Emperor of the Archadian Empire was assasinated by an Archadian senate! The Gran Kiltias however, hands the Sword of Kings to Ashe; that could destroy Nethicite. At that time, Judge Bergan from the Archadian Empire turns up and sends Larsa back after delivering news on the death of his father. He kills the Gran Kiltias and engages in battle with Vaan and the party.

Vaan and party successfully defeats Bergan. Ashe then heads to the Draklor Laboratory in Archades that houses all the Nethicite experiments that was carried out by a scientist called Dr. Cid. Cid leads them to the sacred city of Giruvegan, where the Sun Cryst is located. The Sun Cryst is the source and the Mother of Nethicite. Ashe however, was the only person in the entire party, who was recognised by the Occuria, as they spoke to her about the history of Dynast-Kings and its origins.

The immortal Occuria were the makers of the Sun Cryst and they were the ones who set the tracks of history. They hand on to Ashe, the Treaty Blade, in which Ashe can carve her own pieces of the Sun Cryst. The Occuria mentioned also about Venat, an Occuria heretic, who was a traitor to them and their knowledge, for Venat accompliced with Vayne to put the "reins of history back into Man's hands".

Cid's research was actually based on Venat's knowledge on Nethicite. Cid was obsessed with Nethicite after meeting Venat and visiting Giruvegan. It is then when Vayne's intentions became clear. Vayne wanted to rule all of Ivalice by becoming the new Dynast-King; free from the grasp of the Occuria - with the help of Nethicite. The destruction and subjugation of the smaller kingdoms by Archadia were actually indeed stepping stones in order to aid the study of Nethicite.

Ashe is undecided on whether to use the Sun Cryst for greater power to overthrow Vayne's plans - or to completely destroy it so as to be free from the Occuria and to avoid further abuse of Nethicite's power. Ashe travels to the Pharos in which the Sun Cryst is located. Aided by Reddas, a pirate who heads the port at Balfonheim, the party encounters Gabranth at the top of the Pharos. Gabranth admits to the assasination of the King of Dalmasca 2 years ago! Cid then arrives and revealed that he is indeed Balthier's father. (Which is why I would say that Cid's my FATHER-IN-LAW.) Cid harnessed the full power of the Sun Cryst using Nethicite. Reddas sacrificed his own life in order to destroy the Sun Cryst.

Returning to Balfonheim, Al-Cid interrupts the party with disturbing news. The final battle between the Archadian Empire and the Resistance was about to take place above Rabanastre! The Archadian Empire's mother fleet was the Sky Fortress Bahamut that was Nethicite-fueled. The weapons of the Sky Fortress were forged by harnessing the Mist that was released by the destruction of the Sun Cryst in the Pharos. Vaan and the party decide to infiltrate the Bahamut and confront Vayne using the Strahl for "to avert a war, you need not lose thousands".

In the Bahamut, the twin brothers, Basch and Gabranth (Noah), fight off in a final confrontation. After having lost all of his honour, Gabranth is fuelled only by one more purpose; which is the hatred for his brother who fled his homeland. After Gabranth's loss, he expressed that he was impressed by Basch's loyalty, and the dignity he had to defend the "someone he must protect". Gabranth remembers that to defend whatever honour he had left, he has to protect Lord Larsa.

Vaan's party then confronts Vayne and Larsa, who were at that time, arguing over Vayne's plot for power. Larsa, who objects strongly of his brother's actions then helped Vaan to defeat his own brother. Gabranth, seeing that he should use the rest of his remaining power to defend Larsa, aids Vaan and his party to defeat Vayne.

Vayne, although aided by Venat and manufactured Nethicite, lost to Vaan's team. After Vayne's defeat, Ashe, Larsa and 'Gabranth' (Basch) announces the end of the war. The party escapes from the Bahamut using the Strahl. However, Balthier and Fran stayed behind in the Bahamut to steer a now crumbling Bahamut away from the skies of Rabanastre.

Balthier's selfless act as he claims, "I'm the leading man," MADE ME CRY. OMG. It was this part when my house practically flooded. The Bahamut then crashed, and all contact with Balthier and Fran was lost. I almost thought my darling Balthier was lost!!! However...

A year later, Ashe is to be crowned as the Queen of Dalmasca. Basch then serves Lord Larsa who is now the Emperor of Archadia as that was his brother's dying wish. The story ends when Penelo and Vaan received news from Balthier and Fran who are at Bervenia. Penelo and Vaan decides to pay Balthier a little visit before Ashe's coronation as Queen. Little did they know that that is the start of a new exciting tale.

END OF SPOILER.

(All these spoilers are improving my English larrr. Woo-hoo! XD)

.... MAN, I can't believe I wrote another ESSAY on something absolutely.... ficticious!

But, I have to say that this game would be on top of my best games list. Despite hearing that many people dislike its storyline (no sappy love story!! XD), I was actually very impressed by the entirely unpredicatable storyline plus its fantastic gameplay.

All the more, the "leading man" Balthier definitely spices this game up all the more!!

Special thanks to Adrian's book that I REALLY want to possess right now. ARGHHHHHHHH.

Fuuuhhhhh! Three posts in a day! And the most non-Rebecca post is the longest. My neck and shoulders are all stiff now. Worth it anyway for such a fantastic game. BWAHAHAHAHAHA